What is the difference between graceful and elegant?

Answer 1

Elegance is more of an aesthetic quality; elegant things look good. Metaphorically, elegance also is used to refer to efficiency and economy in accomplishing something, since we admire those types of solutions. It plays a role in mathematics. Graceful is more often used to describe the way someone moves, smoothly and again efficiently, showing good muscular control. So in a dance, you might describe the dancer as graceful, and the dance costume as elegant. But graceful can also refer to social graces. A graceful person knows how to be tactful and thoughtful of others. That is also a form of grace. So both of these words have a variety of applications. Grace and elegance are always good things.